The vocal range of Joe Elliott

As frontman of one of the most iconic British hard rock/hair metal bands of the 1980s, Joe Elliott has spent the last three decades and counting singing for Def Leppard, while also occasionally exploring other side projects, such as his Mott the Hoople cover band Joe Elliott's Down 'n' Outz, or the supergroup Kings of Chaos. A defining characteristic of his vocal style is his high, raspy head voice singing, which can sometimes be quite tonally resemblant of Axl Rose. His first album with Def Leppard, 1980's On Through the Night, saw little use of this type of singing, as he reserved himself to more of a mid range back then and rarely sang above C5. 1981's High 'n' Dry marked the beginning of his trademark high singing style, which was where he first began to regularly carry song melodies as high as E5. However, his technique was much rougher and more screamy at this point, and it wasn't until 1983's Pyromania that he started to be able to hit such notes with more clarity and control. Many of Elliott's performances between this album and 1992's Adrenalize showcase him at his vocal peak, hitting strong, resonant fifth octave notes left and right. In his later years, he has toned down on the high singing, and has instead showcased more of his mid range, as well as some of his surprisingly extensive low range. However, he can still occasionally bust out some fifth octave notes when you aren't expecting them, as showcased on some of his more recent albums with the Down 'n' Outz!

1. 0:00 - A strong display of 2+ octaves from a live version of “Rocket”, starting with the melody C♯5s and D5s as heard in the studio version, then followed by a long slide down to a solid B♭2!
2. 0:34 - A nicely sustained A4 from “Day After Day”.
3. 0:45 - Some gritty belting on B♭4 from “Crash Street Kidds”, as well as a quick D5.
4. 1:03 - A melisma up to a strong sustained B4 from “Desert Song”.
5. 1:31 - Some quality hard rock belting around C5 from “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)”. Nice power on these notes!
6. 2:07 - Great C♯5s from a live rendition of the Led Zeppelin classic, “Whole Lotta Love”. Some good blending here.
7. 2:49 - Powerful sustained D5s from the ending of “Make Love Like a Man”, followed by a short A2 and G2.
8. 3:18 - Melody lines on D5 from “She's Too Tough”. Another great example here of Joe tearing it up in full rocker mode!
9. 3:46 - Strong C♯5s and an E♭5 from the ending chorus of “Animal”.
10. 4:12 - Entire lines sung on E5 from “Excitable”! Followed by a number of D5s and B4s.
11. 4:43 - Excellent D5s and E5s from the final chorus of “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)”. Talk about hard rock power!
12. 5:19 - Some easy singing between A4 and C5 from “Ring of Fire”, followed by a powerful and resonant F5!
13. 5:52 - An epic F5 from the final chorus of “Love Bites”! Also features some strong melody singing up to E♭5 and D5 afterward.
14. 6:18 - Two pleasant sustained F♯5s from the ending of “Promises”, with some C♯5 melody singing in between!
15. 6:58 - Joe's highest singing to date – the climactic ending of “Die Hard the Hunter”, featuring some of his standard D5s, some melody lines on E5, and a short G5!
16. 7:43 - Now to start the lows section, we have some easy lines on D3 from “I Am Your Child”.
17. 8:01 - Some nicely relaxed singing down to C♯3 “All on Your Touch”.
18. 8:42 - Some warm C3s from the ballad “Sea Diver”.
19. 8:57 - Solid B2s from the ending of “Marionette”.
20. 9:14 - Several B♭2s from a performance of “Rebel Yell”, originally by Billy Idol. Pretty impressive live projection here!
21. 9:38 - Melody singing down to A2 from “He's Gonna Step on You Again”, with plenty of margin still left for lower notes.
22. 9:57 - Several C3s and a G♯2 from the Jay Leno Show performance of “Work It Out”, played half a step lower than the studio version.
23. 10:17 - Strong singing down to A2 and G2 from “3000 Miles from Here”, easily Joe's best performance for low notes!
24. 10:58 - A verse from “Shouting and Pointing” which displays several different sides to Joe's range: some belted B♭4s, some strong melody F♯2s and an F2, some heady C♯5s, and finally a melody line up to E♭5!
25. 11:26 - A surprisingly solid line on E♭2 from a 2013 live(!) version of “Excitable”, followed by a quick E♭5!
26. 11:41 - Here we have Joe's lowest singing to date: the ending of “Broadside Outcasts”, featuring a number of F♯2s and E2s, as well as sustained E♭2s and even a couple short C♯2s! Unfortunately, some of these notes are slightly obscured by the effects over his voice, but it is still clear that he reaches them nonetheless.
27. 12:06 - And now to close, we have the finale of the Def Leppard classic, “Photograph”, with a great E5 right off the bat, followed by some solid upper fourth/lower fifth octave singing, before eventually topping off with a powerful nine second D5!

[copykon]

Love his vocals. I'm been singing (trying) like him since I was 12. He really goes all out, and I mean all out.

[lincolnsprague]

It's insane to me that after all this time, he can stil hit every note here. Incredible!

[lyndaherbert]

Heard only the other day how Joe's voice is better than when he started in Def Leppard. When Vivian Campbell joined then back in 1992 he introduced the band to amazing vocal coach so Joe said over the years his voice keeps improving.

[DM-yiur]

12:06 my favorite Def Leppard song and I always lypsync the high note 😍🤘

[johnedwards]

I was listening to a late December 83 live show from London the other night. JE used to scream on stage at a very high pitch. He lost a lot between then and their long Hysteria and Adrenalized tours.

[TheKing-uujn]

Your Peter Steele video got taken down

[corybangerter]

I've always attributed most of Joe's deteriorating range to improper technique. Age certainly plays its part, but it sounds like he's hastened the loss by a lack of vocal coaching. I could be wrong, but his creaky voice work bears a close resemblance to singers who sing from the back of their throats rather than their diaphragms.

[sonnymtv]

You sing couple zillion tours 200 shows back to back a tour, living out of suitcase for years, then i'll be amazed you are able to talk to say the least. It is a documented fact, that Jon Bon Jovi, Steve Perry, all them rock singers that were making 200 shows, sometimes doing 5 night sold out in same arenas or same stadiums in same city, received steroid shots into their throats at times, cos huge money were at stake and their throats were hurting on tours badly. Have all the teachers and technique all you want, rock singers are the most exploitative users of their throats, they scream their throats and lungs out in decades of endless touring. No opera singer does 200 show touring after each album and releasing album after album. Opera singers gig 200 times less then popular music artists, so don't even start about having bad technique. If Pavarotti had been traded for Joe Elliott 30 ago, today after all these couple zillion tours and concerts he would have no voice ALSO! Almost nobody has their voice intact after that. Sammy Hagar contrary to what he states, he lost his voice, he sounds very thin and struggling, his voice lost the girth, the low base that it was built on. Same with Coverdale, he likes to brag how he still has his voice, yet he sounds so thin, he also lost his girth absolutely and his voice is shot..

[mikeystarr]

That’s Vivian Campbell singing all on your touch